John A. Winston

Who was John A. Winston?

John Anthony Winston was the 15th Governor of the U.S. state of Alabama from 1853 to 1857. He was born in 1812 in Madison County, Alabama and became the first native born governor of Alabama. He was a son of William Winston and Mary Cooper of Tuscumbia Alabama. William was a son of Anthony Winston and Keziah Jones former residents of Buckingham County Virginia. John Anthony Winston married his first cousin, Mary Agness Jones, on August 7, 1832 in Madison County Alabama. He died 21 December 1871 in Mobile, Alabama and is buried in the Winston Family Cemetery near Gainesville in Sumter County Alabama. He had only one child, a daughter, Mary Agnes Winston. In January 1867 he presented his credentials to the United States Senate as Senator-elect from Alabama for the term 1867-1873, but was not permitted to take his seat.

John Anthony Winston was also a first cousin to the war time governor of Mississippi, John Jones Pettus, who was born in Wilson County Tennessee October 9, 1813 and died in Pulaski County Arkansas on January 25, 1867. John Jones Pettus' wife was his first cousin Permelia Virginia Winston a sister of John Anthony Winston.